HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Maurice Taylor had 23 points -- one shy of
his season high -- and Steve Francis added 19, 10 rebounds and
eight assists as the Houston Rockets posted their fourth
straight victory, a 101-84 triumph over the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics scored the first four points of the game but it was
a 12-0 run by the Rockets midway through the quarter that broke
things open. Houston led 12-11 with 5 1/2 minutes left in the
opening period when a bucket by Taylor sparked the burst.

Cuttino Mobley added 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for
the Rockets, who moved two games over .500 for the first time
since December 19.

"The sky is the limit for us," Mobley said. "I'm 25 and he's
(Francis) 23 and we're getting better and better. I appreciate
it when people say things like that, but we've got to get better
each day like Michael Jordan used to do."

"Hopefully, we can continue to roll like we've been doing,"
Francis said. "I think we are maturing as a team and with the
emergence of (Hakeem) Olajuwon at center, I think it is great."

Paul Pierce led Boston with 31 points and Antoine Walker added
19 and 10 rebounds. The Celtics had dominated the previous
meeting between the teams, posting a 96-81 triumph on November
22.

"They took it to us here like we took it to them at our place in
November," Celtics coach Jim O'Brien said. "Their backcourt of
Francis and Mobley is dynamite. There's no better backcourt in
the league. They both had double-doubles and they almost had
triple-doubles."

"They came out and outscrapped us," Pierce said. "We didn't show
up tonight. This was an important game for us to win and they
outhustled and outrebounded us. It was just one of those
nights."

Kenny Anderson and Mark Blount opened the game with layups but
Mobley drained 3-pointers 48 seconds apart to give Houston the
lead. The Celtics were within 12-11 following a layup by Walker
with 6:59 left in the quarter.

Taylor had a layup with 5:23 remaining and Mobley sank an
18-footer. Hakeem Olajuwon buried a 14-footer and Francis hit a
13-foot runner before Olajuwon sank a turnaround jumper. Francis
then capped the burst with two free throws with 1:46 left.

The Rockets lead was 29-19 after a quarter as Mobley had eight
points and five rebounds. Houston made 52 percent (12-of-23) of
its shots over the opening 12 minutes while the Celtics made
only 32 percent (7-of-22).

Houston's starters played the entire opening quarter.

Boston got within 33-27 following a basket by Pierce with 8:50
left in the half. But a layup by Mobley sparked a 10-2 burst
that was capped by Moochi Norris' 3-pointer with just over four
minutes remaining.

Francis had nine points in the quarter and 13 points, five
rebounds and four assists in the half.

"You have to give Steve a lot of credit," Celtics guard Kenny
Anderson said. "It seemed like the ball bounced into his hands
the whole game. He's a very active player and he played great
tonight."

"He's just a tremendous athlete," Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich
said of his point guard. "He competes on every possession. He's
a great jumper and he hustles down the court every play."

Houston, which never let the lead slip under double-digits in
the second half, made 55 percent of its shots and held a 23-15
rebounding edge over the first 24 minutes.

Taylor dominated the third quarter, scoring 13 points, and sat
out the entire fourth quarter. Shandon Anderson and Olajuwon
also did not see action over the final 12 minutes.

"Coach wanted me to be aggressive offensively because of the way
they were playing us," Taylor said. "They were letting me get
open shots and my teammates got me the ball. We wanted to win
this game early so that some of our players could get some rest
because we have a tough back-to-back in Minnesota tomorrow."